Earth-auger.



Patented Dec. 25, I900.

W. B. GIBSON.

EARTH AUGER (Applicatibn filed Mar. 1's, 1900.

WITNESSES:

u: NORRIS PEYERS cc Pnm'oumo" WASNINGTON a c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BROWN GIBSON, OF MORRILTON, ARKANSAS.

EARTH-AUGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,741, dated December 25, 1900.

Application filed March 6, 1900.

To all whom, it 71mg concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BROWN GIB- SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Morrilton,in the county of Con way and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and Improved Earth-Auger, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a class of angers employed for the form ation of post-holes and for similar purposes, and has for its object to provide a novel simple earth-auger which is adapted for boring deeply into sand or clay. for the production of oil or water wells and also for the formation of post-holes in the earth quickly and in a manner which enables the perfect removal of sand, clay, or earth by the anger as the work progresses.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a partly-sectional side view of the improved earth-auger with parts in operative adjustment and showing its operation when employed for boring a post-hole. Fig. 2 is a side View of the improvement, illustrating its application for boring a well-hole that is to be cased. Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of the earth-auger, showing operative details in closed adjustment. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the device. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view showing operative details in opened adjustment and slightly changed in relative positions as compared with the same parts shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3; and Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the anger with parts arranged as shown in Fig. 5, but in closed adjustment.

The invention, briefly described, comprises a cylindrical hollow boring-head, a gate adapt ed to close an inlet-opening formed in the bottom wall of the head, a scoop-like excavatorblade extending down below the bottom of the head at one side of the opening therein, teeth projected from the bottom of the boring-head to loosen soil subsequently cut by the excavator-blade, a counterboring attachment for a diametrical enlargement of the hole bored by the excavator-blade, a handle Serial No. 7,504. (No model.)

rod or bar for the boring-head and adapted by manipulation to rotate the latter and also to open and close the gate, and means to open and close the counterboring device manually operative from above the surface of the earth wherein a hole is being bored.

In the drawings, which represent the construction and operation of the invention, 10

indicates the cylindrical boring-head, which in size is proportioned to the diameter of the hole to be bored. In the bottom wall 10 of the boring-head 10 a suitable opening a is formed,and along one radial edge ofsaid opening a plate I; is erected upon the bottom wall and inclined a suitable degree from the opening a, thus providing a stock-piece for supporting a cutter. Upon the plate I) a cutter blade 11 is secured by screws or other means, so that a portion of the blade extends below the bottom wall 10, and a laterally-curved extension 12 of the blade 11 projects from the side edge thereof, the curvature of said extension adapting it to [it neatly in a shallow recess formed to receive it in the inner side of the cylindrical wall of the boring-head 10, upon which it is secured.

A plurality of spaced teeth 13 project downwardly from the bottom wall 10, occupying the imperforate portion of the same, as best shown in Fig. 4. A preferably tubular boring-bar 14 is provided, which extends at its lower end through a central perforation in the bottom wall 10 of the boring-head 10, and a nut 0 screws upon the threaded portion of said boring-bar that projects below the bottom wall. Onthe boring-bar 14 a short distance above the nut c a flat gate 15 in plate form is formed or secured, and said gate, which is, in efiect, a supplementary bottom, is cut away to form an openiug'therein which is of the same size as that of the opening in the fixed bottom wall 10*, and, like said opening, has two radial edges.

The inner surface of the bottom wall 10 is exactly level, and the lower surface of the segmental gate 15 is rendered level also to adapt it to closely engage with the top of the wall10, upon which it seats. The boringbar 14 is of a proper length to adapt it for effective service, and in case the augenis employed for boring post-holes the upper end of the bar is provided with a transverse handle- IOC opening a in the bottom wall as shown in Fig. 6, the direction of rotatable movement being indicated in Fig. 5 by the curved arrow at, then the segmental gate will be turned on the bottom 10 so as to open the aperture a. The gate will cease independently moving when the free edge of the notch therein,

. which approaches the stock-piece b, has contact therewith, as indicated in Fig; 5, and this contact of parts permits a further rotation of the boring-bar 14 in the direction mentioned to correspondingly move the boring head 10, so that an engagement'of'the cutterblade 11 with the surface of earth, sand, or clay will cause the cutter-blade to dig into the ground and plow as well as scoop and form'a circular furrow therein.

Upon the boring-bar 14 a sleeve 16 is loosely mounted and normally is positioned with its lower end near the segmental gate 15. the sleeve 16 a preferably slotted ear d is formed, whereon is pivoted one end of'a link 6, whichat the opposite end is loosely connectedto the lower endof a lifting-rod l7.

A'rectangular opening g of proper area is formedin the side wall of the boring-head 10 a short distance above the bottom wall 10 andaplate-like cutter-blade 18 is hinged at one side edge upon a corresponding edge of this opening; The cutter-blade 18 is thus held'to swing as a doorin the opening g, and upon the'top and bottom edges of said cutterblade two similar guard-wings it are formed or secured, which move freely in' loose contact with corresponding edges of the openmg g. i

. A'n arm 'm projects from the inner side'of the cutter-blade 18 near the free cutting'edge thereof, and upon the inner end of said arm' a link nis pivoted by one end, its opposite end having pivotal connection with the lower end of the lifting-rod 17 adjacent to the end of the link e, that is pivoted thereto by a common pivot-bolt. It will be seen that by raising the lifting-rod 17 the cutter-blade 18is drawn inwardly, so asto close it within the aperture g, and a depression of the rod will cause the cutter-blade 18 to swing outwardly.

The inner horizontal edges of the guardwingsi i are respectively bent at right angles, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, which provides check-flanges 2" on the wings that fit against the concave inner surface of the hollow boring-head 10 when the cutter-blade 18is swung outwardly, this contact of parts obviously limiting the outward movement of the cutterblade to a'suitable degree.

The lifting-rod 17 is preferably formed in two sections that have assured connection at 'oft'enas-is needed'to give properdepth to-th e adjacent ends. As shown, a socket-nut o is formed 'on the lower end of the upper rodsection, and in said socket-nut is screwed the 7s V threaded upper end of the lower rod-section. V An abutment-nut p is screwed upon the threaded upper end of the lower section of the lifting-rod 1'7, and in service this nut may have contact with the upper side of the bracepiece 10 ,through which the liftingrod loosely passes,-said lifting-rod when the nut is in such engagement coacting with the checkflanges t in definingthe-degree of outward swinging movement of the cutter-blade 18. I 82 When the earth-auger is to be employed 1 for boring post-holes and the like, such a propjortionate length is given to theborin'g b'ar 14 and the lifling-rodl7 as will adapt them for convenientmanipulationby an operator; 85'

Assuming that the gate 15is-in'openedad justnient, so as to providea free-passage at a for earth bored by the cuttingbladell, as 7 indicated in Figs. land 5, to bore a hole a few feet deep in the ground the operator grasps 9o the transverse handle-piece14 of the boring- V bar14 and places'the boringhead'lOupright' aswell as the boring bar at a point where a hole is to he made. The boriug-h'ead'is'now' rotated by the operator in the directionof 5 the arrow-a: in Fig. 5 anda circular furrow will be excavated by means of the cutterblade 11, and the earth thus cut will be trans'-* ferred upon the inclined surface of the cut ter-blade ll iuto the boring-head 10. After ICO the boring-head has received'a'proper amount 7 of earth thehandle-piece l t is reversed in' movement, which'will correspondingly move the segmental gate 15 inthe-di rectionofthe arrow 00 in Figi 6 until azradialed'geof the. 7

opening in'the gate contacts with the-front side of the cutter-blade 11, thus completely closing the bottom of the boring-head, In order to permit the freeremovalof the auger from the'hole whenthis isdesir'ed', the

cutter-blade 18 is swung outwardly before the boring operation iscommenced', and said 7 blade will as the work' progressescut 'a coon-- terbore, thus enlarging the liolediametrically, the earth cut by the blade 18 passing it 5 into the hollow boring-head; being guided therein by the wingsit'. The cutter-blade may be drawn inwardly'b'y lifting the'rod*1'7 as represented in Fig. 3, and this wille'nab'le the operator to freely raiseth'e filled boring- [2o 7 head 10 from the post-hole for discharge" of the earth with which it is loaded.

In boring a post-hole the hollow boring; head maynot be of a capacity to h'olds'ufficien-t dirt for completionof the boring by once filling theboring-head. Hence it'will' be necessary to return the auger to the par tially-completed post-hole and'repeat the boring operation (hereinbefore described) as [30 post-hole. V

In Fig. 2 isshown the improved-auger'ap plied for the boring of a well in sand,:earth, or clay, the only changeneeded in construc iion for such a use consisting in the lengthening of the boring-bar 14 and of the liftingrod 17. It will be seen that after a certain depth has been reached by operating with the anger as already described a casing-section 20 may be slid down into the counterbored hole and be supported by any suitable means, so that the lower end of the casing will be near to the cutter-blade 18. The outer surface of the casing 20 should neatly fit against the interior of the auger-hole, and thus prevent any sand or earth from clogging the action of the boring-head.

The provision of the lifting-rod 17, which is independent in its action from the boringbar 1&, permits the counterboring cutterblade 13 to be operated while the boring-head is filled with earth, and the bottom thereof is closed, so that the cutter-blade may be retracted readily to permit the free upward movement of the boring-head. This is a feature of manifest advantage and is claimed to be a novel one.

As the interior diameter of the casing 20 permits the free movement of the boring-head 10 in it, it will be evident that upon closure of the cutter-blade 18 and gate 15 after the boring-head is filled with borings the auger may be lifted from the well-hole, emptied, and then be returned therein for a continuation of the boring operation. Obviously as the well-hole is deepened successive sections of the casing 20 should be added, and thus complete the well-casing when the boring is finished.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In an earth-auger, the combination with a hollow boring-head, a boring-bar held to rotate axially thereon, a segmental gate carried by the boring-bar, and adapted byarotatable movement of said bar to open or close an opening in the bottom wall of the boringhead, and an excavator-blade in said opening, of a counterboring cutter-blade having one side edge hinged to a side edge of a lateral opening in the boring-head so as to swing therein, a guard-flange projecting laterally from a top edge and also from a bottom edge of the cutter-blade inwardly so as to direct earth cut by the blade into the boring-head ,and means operating independently of the boring-bar to actuate the swinging cutter-blade.

2. In an earth-auger of the character described, the combination with a cylindrical boring-head partly open in its bottom, an axially-disposed boring-bar rotatable in and with the boring-head, working a gate to close the opening in the bottom of the boring-head, and an excavator-blade in said opening, of a counterboring cutter-blade hinged by one side edge to a corresponding edge of alateral opening in the boring-head, a vertically-reciprocating lifting-rod in the boring-head at one side of the boring-bar, a sleeve slidable on the lower portion of the boring-bar, an arm projected from theinner side of the cutter-blade, and links loosely connecting the sleeve and arm with the lower end of the lifting-rod.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM BROWN GIBSON.

Witnesses:

W. H. SMITH, J. D. KENNEDY. 

